Marquam Snaps Up River Views, Collaboration Space in its New Digs

Dec 09, 2016

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​​It used to be that much of the sixth floor of the 811 @ The Waterfront building was full of private offices that reserved stunning views of downtown Portland, the Willamette River and Mt. Hood only for those lucky enough to work in one of those offices.

Then software firm Marquam Group LTD moved in — and out came the private offices. ​The views from Marquam's new downtown headquarters stretch across the Willamette River toward Mt. Hood on the eastern horizon.

"The purpose of a private office is fine when someone needs privacy, but we don't really subscribe to the idea that private offices are meant to isolate people or confer some kind of status," said Marquam CEO
Chad Layman. "We tore out most of the private offices, and now everybody shares the views."

Long located in the Pearl District near Powell's bookstore, Marquam moved its offices into the building at 811 S.W. Naito Parkway earlier this year. The firm, which offers solutions in
Microsoft technologies, moved in part to leave behind some of the grittier aspects of its former neighborhood, but also to accommodate its growing numbers. In the past 12 months,

Marquam's revenue has climbed by 35 percent while its headcount jumped from 35 to 50.

Not all 50 of those people are in the new space, however.

"We don't have room for 50, but that's by design," Layman said. "We have a flexible work environment here. Sometimes people are in the office, sometimes they're working from home, sometimes they're at a client site."

When employees do come into the office, they find shared workstations, sit-stand desks, plenty of video conferencing options and building amenities like bike storage, a locker room and showers with towel service provided by the building owners. A local LLC, RODE LLC,
purchased the building from San Francisco's Swift Real Estate Partners earlier this year for $12.6 million.

Layman said Marquam is comfortable in its new space for now, but if the company keeps growing as it has been, he can see the need for more space. At present, Marquam has about 60 percent of the floor with a right of first refusal for additional square footage should it open up.

"We really like it here," Layman said. "There's been a real change in the feeling and attitude of the people who work here."

For a visual tour of Marquam's new headquarters, designed by Portland's Fluent Design, click through the gallery above.

Jon covers real estate for the Portland Business Journal. Sign up for his daily newsletter to hear about new projects and get behind-the-scenes looks at Portland's rapidly changing built environment.